Children and Youth Services Battle |
As of Septemeber we are still waiting the imfamous Violatios Report from the Western Regional Office. It has gone to the commisioners, but the interim director has been too busy (what with no case-workers and all) to send a response back. The result is that it still isn't public yet. Once it is, you'll hear about it.
The testimony presented here was given under oath just like in a trial. Lying in these proceedings is perjury. In fairness to all parties, all depositions are presented here, in their entirety. This way no statement can be said to be quoted out of context.
Monday, November 6, 1995 - We had arranged for a crane to come, a baby sitter to come and had our regularly scheduled Family Center visit on this day. The crane got there and the baby sitter was late. The weather was too cold and windy to bring the children up with us, so we left them down at the house while we got things started with the crane. Cameron is a very articulate 4 1/2 year old and Cori is 1 year old and very mellow. They were left in our living room which is where they usually play. We ran down about twice to check on them and at no point were they left longer than 10 minutes. The new house is less than 100 yards from the old house. We saw the person from the Family Center come down the drive, so then we concentrated on working. I ran down about a half hour later to explain that this was an unusual circumstance and that the baby sitter was coming. I got back to work, then went back down when the person from the Family Center was going to leave, laid the kids down for their nap, turned on the crib monitor and took the parent unit back up to the new construction. The baby sitter got there about 15 minutes after that. The person from the Family Center passed the baby sitter on the way down the mountain.
Tuesday, November 7, 1995 - We went to Mom and Dad's Morning Out (a parenting group at the Family Center). The Family Center director called us in to her office and said that since they were mandated reporters and our person from the Family Center was very upset about us leaving the kids alone for any length of time, she had reported us to Children and Youth. We questioned the difference between what we did, with a parent who left the children upstairs while they went downstairs to do a chore. The Director said they don't have to evaluate the situation, they just report it and then it's up to Children and Youth. We asked what do we do now and they replied that we should wait for CYS to contact us.
Thursday, November 9, 1995 - We were concerned and since no one had contacted us, we called CYS early in the morning. I spoke to Sister Damian. I explained the situation and asked what do we do to get this taken care of. Sister said that since we had called, it basically was taken care of. I told her that we would welcome them to come up to the house to see that we were good parents. She told me that Gary would need to take care of the case.
Monday, November 13, 1995 - We stopped in to meet Gary and to let him see the kids. Gary told us at that time that they had gotten a call a while ago about Cori's small size. He said he would come up to check out the house when the roads were better. Bill offered to meet him down at the bottom of Hunts Run and drive him up, like we did with the Family Center people in winter. Gary asked for people who had seen her eat. We gave him the name and phone numbers of Loretta Geelen from the Family Center, Andrea Kennedy who had been up frequently to help us with building and Bill's parents who we stay with when we are visiting family.
Monday, December 18, 1995 - Gary called and spoke to me and asked if we could meet today. I agreed because I would be in town that day so that the physical therapy person could check on Cori's progress walking. (The physical therapy lady said Cori's doing fine. At that point Cori was cautious about walking, one month later she had no hesitation.) I took the kids and met Gary and Sister Damian over at Memorial Hall where they were giving out Christmas presents. Gary stressed that it was just a "suggestion" but if we were to visit the pediatrician then CYS would have something to reassure the people who are calling. (Gary said it was several people and it would save him "a call a week.") He said they would set it up and pay for it. I said if he wanted to set it up that afternoon I'd go, just to be finished with this silliness. He said they couldn't do it that quick but he'd call and let us know. I told him it had to be the week after Christmas because after that we were going to visit Bill's folks. Sister commented on how intelligent and articulate Cameron was.
Tuesday December 26, 1995 - Bill's grandfather's funeral.
Wednesday December 27, 1995 - The appointment was for 2:30 pm with Doctor Mary Ann Rigas. We got there before 2:00 and probably didn't get in to see the Doctor until 3:00 p.m. Bill was tired and frazzled and it was beginning to snow heavily again. When the Doctor was finished her examination, she said Cori is "obviously not malnourished" but she had some concerns because of her small size and wanted to run some tests to rule out growth hormone deficiency, thyroid problems or other endocrine problems. (She did not mention cystic fibrosis at that time.) We explained that those same types of tests (X-ray studies of the hand bones, etc.) were done on Bill as a child and they decided he was just borderline to get hormone treatments and didn't have them and his size is fine. We explained Bill's mom was small as a child. We suggested Doctor Rigas get the growth charts of both the kids. She could compare Cameron's growth because he was very tiny too and was now normal an the charts. We'd also see about getting Bill's medical records, so she could compare all of them and then we could discuss it later. The Doctor Also expressed some concern about Cameron's heart murmur. Bill explained that he had a heart murmur and his mom had a heart murmur. He offered to let the doctor listen to his heart so as to compare them but the doctor declined. We explained that it was just an acoustic thing; there was no connection to Cameron's brother's congenital heart defect which was such an unusual condition that there wasn't even a name for it. We signed the release forms for Doctor Rigas to get the children's medical records from the Cameron County Health Care Center before we left the office.
Thursday, December 28, 1995 - We left for West Chester.
Tuesday, January 2, 1996 - Gary hiked in to our house to ascertain that we weren't there. (He told us this at the CYS Office, January 17th after CYS had agreed to give us back the kids.) While we were in West Chester, I called Doctor Robinson's office to obtain Bill's childhood records. The doctor's office said the records would be in their long term storage and it may be a month or two before we could get them, then they'd have to call us with the costs. I said fine. They said they also needed a written request which we got out to them sometime that week. During the weeks we were there, we tried to locate a record of Bill's mom's growth but Bill's grandmother couldn't remember where it was. We would have gone home on January 8th but Bill had the flu and the kids were getting over it and we'd gotten 30 inches of snow. We left on Sunday, January 14th and planned on sleeping over at Will and Nancy Dingman's house and see the condition of our road in the daylight on Monday.
Monday, January 15, 1996 - I stayed with the kids at LouAnn Nellis' while Bill and Tom Nellis tried to plow out the private road leading to our house. Tom finally gave up after breaking a part on the plow. The weather was supposed to be warm all that week so we decided to wait things out and let our road melt down. We went back to stay at Will and Nancy Dingman's. We later found out that Sister Damian spoke to Paul Kennedy whom we had been in touch with and Paul informed her as far as he knew we were still at Bill's folks recovering from the flu. (It should be noted that Bill's parent's phone number was in our CYS file next to Paul and Andrea Kennedy's.) A day or two later Gary spoke to LouAnn Nellis and she told him how we had tried to get into our house and decided to stay at a friend's house.
Wednesday, January 17, 1996 - Called the Family Center to check if the Board of Directors meeting was still on because the roads were icy. They said things were warming up and we said we'd be there. When we got to town, Bill went to the Courthouse to do some programming and I took the kids to run errands and then went to the Family Center. I got there 1/2 hour before the meeting and was playing with the kids when Officer Al Neiman introduced himself. I thought it was nice that we had someone from the police department going to be on the Board. A couple minutes later I saw Gary. I started to tell him that we had requested Bill's medical records but he wasn't really paying attention and asked me where Bill was. That's when I knew something was wrong. I asked Mary the secretary to see if she could reach Bill at the Assessor's Office. He had just left there. We waited a little longer then Gary said we were going over to the Police Office. (It turns out Bill had stopped in another office on his way over.) Gary gave me the Temporary Custody Order (signed by Damian and not by the judge). He told us we could have no contact with the kids unless we arranged it through his office. We were to have a Court Hearing an Monday, January 22, 1996 at 10:00 a.m. (Which I still don't understand because the Temporary Custody Order was for 72 hours and that would have been 115 hours later.) Gary told me Cameron and Cori would be staying at the Nellis', who are foster parents. He said that we wouldn't be able to have any contact with the children unless we arranged it through their office. Gary said something to the effect of - Look at it this way... we can pay for the medical testing. You won't have to worry about it. (He knew we didn't have any medical insurance.) He concluded this by saying that he would be in touch with the doctor and CYS would call us tomorrow. When we got back outside I went to get Cori's car seat and the phone number where we were staying. I asked if I could tell Cameron where he was going and after I got the children settled in the policeman's car I tracked down Bill and told him what had happened. He said, "Absolutely not!" We walked over to CYS and got there just as Gary was coming back from dropping off the kids. Bill asked, "What do we have to do to get the kids back?" Gary called Doctor Rigas at home to see if she was amiable to have us sign an agreement that we would have the testing done and the children could be released to us. Doctor Rigas spoke to Bill on the phone. It was at that time that she mentioned cystic fibrosis. She said it was not her recommendation that the kids be taken away. She didn't feel that it was her decision. We discussed possible dates and hospitals. She said she would get back to us. We gave Doctor Rigas the phone number where we were staying. Sister went to her office, she said she wanted to check with the District Attorney if she could legally have us sign the paperwork to have the kids released. Sister Damian had the secretary type up the agreement that we signed to have "medical services" done. I asked Sister Damian if we still needed the 3 papers including the court order. She said no and I gave them back to her.
Thursday, January 18, 1996 - Called Doctor Rigas' office. She wouldn't be in until Monday and I left a message.
Friday, January 19, 1996 - Called Gary. Told him that the more I thought about it the more I couldn't understand why they needed to take the kids away. I asked him to send me the original court order papers and to write specifically why they felt it necessary to take the kids away. He said that would have to come from Sister. She was out of the office at the moment.
Monday, January 22, 1996 - Gary called me back and said that Sister said that the Court Order listed why they took the children and that he would put that in the mail for us. Doctor Rigas called and I said I wanted the tests done at Geisinger since that was a big hospital and they would have a much wider range of experience. She said I could either have the tests done there or I could have someone there give a second opinion and get the tests done that they would recommend. We opted for the second opinion on Cori. I asked if I should have tests done on Cameron's heart murmur (which CYS told us Dr. Rigas had a concern about.) Doctor Rigas said we didn't have to bother but we should hove someone check it out sometime in the future. I made an appointment for both children for the soonest possible date Thursday, February 2, 1996. I left a message with both Doctor Rigas' office and CYS as to the date of the doctor's appointment. Later that week I received a copy of the Temporary Custody Order which simply said we weren't providing proper parental care. I wrote a letter back to Sister Damian asking for specifically why they felt it necessary to take the children away from us and to please send that in writing.
Thursday, February 1, 1996 - Bill took Cameron to get an EKG and his heart listened to by Dr. Cohen, Pediatric Cardiologist. The doctor said there is nothing the matter. I took Cori to see Doctor Andruscavage. She said Cori seemed happy and healthy. The Doctor took all of the family's past medical history into account and didn't feel that any of the concerns Doctor Rigas had were anything to be worried about at the present time. Doctor Andruscavage thought it might possibly be a non-serious renal problem or a remote possibility of lead (which Cameron had a high level at one point, although now it's normal and no one has been able to figure out where it came from.) Those tests were easily accomplished with a urine sample and a finger stick. She wishes to see Cori back in 3 months just to make sure her growth curve is proceeding the way it has been. She said she would only be worried if Cori's growth curve drops off. The way Cori is now is fine.
Friday, February 2, 1996- Bill and I met with Gary Clinger, Sister Damian, Leroy Skinner, Tony Moscato and Ed Hornung (the 3 County Commissioners.) At that meeting Sister said that Doctor Rigas had done a "major study" on Cori. I corrected that since Doctor Rigas told me in a phone conversation, she had simply looked at Cori's growth chart. Doctor Rigas told me she did not look at Cameron's growth chart or at Cori's prior health record which would have shown that Cori had always been very healthy. The records hadn't come in yet on Bill's growth yet. On the day of the exam, Doctor Rigas never asked if Cori showed any of the symptoms of cystic fibrosis. Sister Damian also said incorrectly, that we lived in a one room with a loft house with a potbellied stove and a kerosene heater. I verified that we had a kerosene heater which has since been replaced with a propane hot air heater. I corrected that we had a wood stove which hasn't been in use this year and we have 3 rooms with a loft. Sister went on to say that the only reason that she had taken the children away was "so that we could talk." She said that the Family Center said that we couldn't talk there and the only way that CYS could legally transport the children was by taking them into custody. She said that when Bill arrived at her office she figured out who he was when I came in close behind. She said that she figured Gary had arranged for us all to meet at the office to talk. Sister Damian said that she had no intention of taking the children into custody for medical testing. I asked why Gary had said at the time he took the children that we were to have no contact with the children unless it was arranged through CYS and that CYS would pay for the testing. Sister said she didn't know why Gary had said that, "she wasn't there at the time." I also said that we decided to go over to CYS after I filled Bill in on what was going on. No one had arranged to speak with us at all. The commissioners didn't pursue the question. I did have Sister repeat the reason why she took the kids, at least once maybe twice. Leroy Skinner said that Sister had just answered that, so the Commissioners heard her clearly and didn't miss her explanation. I also asked why if CYS "just wanted to talk" didn't they call Bill's folks (they had the number in the file), or write us a letter or leave a message at the Family Center to come over to the CYS Office. Sister didn't answer and changed the topic. I asked why they had sent a policeman to take the children, since LouAnn Nellis the foster mother said that was the first time that children were brought to her not by their parents. Sister got angry at that and made the comment that "LouAnn had better remember about confidentiality." I quickly spoke up that LouAnn had never told anyone's names and had always kept things confidential. Gary started to answer the question, "There were several reasons, first the car was [in the shop or out of commission for some reason, I don't remember the exact wording]" He began to list the second reason when Sister waived him silent and said, "We have the choice to use an officer or not. It doesn't have to be explained." The County Commissioners simply wanted to know if Sister had acted illegally or not so they called the Regional Supervisor Mary Lou (412-565-5654) and put her on the speaker phone. Mary Lou said that Sister was perfectly justified in taking the children if they were in medical danger. Mary Lou also said our CYS office gave the children back because "they had made the determination that they were able to work with the parents after taking the children." This is contradictory to what Sister said earlier in the conversation to the County Commissioners. Sister told them that we had always been cooperative. (I knew that speaking to Mary Lou wasn't going to solve our dissatisfaction because I had spoken to her on January 26th. When I explained the situation then, she told me that I should take it as a good sign that they gave the kids back to us so quickly ["it showed great faith in you as parents".] She also said that I should have reported our whereabouts when we went away. I frustratedly replied that I didn't know that this was Russia but besides that CYS did know where we were! Mary Lou said at the end of the conversation that she would talk to the CYS office. I didn't know until that time that this was Sister's supervisor. The phone number was given to me by the State Representative's office as someone who it might be helpful to talk to.) After it was clear that the County Commissioners were satisfied by Mary Lou's support of Sister Damian, I realized we weren't getting anywhere and wrapped up the conversation. Sister said that this incident is basically closed unfounded. There is no record of this in the Child Hotline because it was called into the CYS office directly. She said that the people who called in and stopped by about this matter were mandated reporters who saw us all the time. Sister said they were not protected by the confidentiality laws but when I asked for their names so that I could give them the doctors' reports to reassure them that nothing was the matter with Cori, Sister said she didn't want to give me the names. Sister said she would mail them the information. I also asked for a copy of CYS's procedure book. Sister said that it would be too expensive for their office to copy it for me. I said I would pay for it. Sister said that she would have to check with her Supervisor or better yet, I should call Mary Lou. I asked if CYS still had to do a home visit to close out the original report of leaving the children alone. Sister said yes they probably should do that and Gary would be in touch with us. We offered to pick him up at the bottom of our Subdivision because our roads were still pretty snowy. CYS made no contact with us after that.
Saturday, February 17, 1996 - Bill picked up the mail and in there was a letter from CYS dated the day before (2/16/96). It said we'd been called in on the hotline and they were now beginning a 30 day investigation on the charges of Cori "failure to thrive." CYS had scheduled a meeting for Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. We called the lawyers office and left a message. We were very lucky to have gotten the message at all, since normally we don't go into town on Saturday, Monday was a holiday and Tuesday we had decided not to go into town because we'd been doing too much driving recently. We wouldn't have been in until my doctor's appointment at 12:45 p.m on Wednesday.
Wednesday, February 21, 1996 - Gave Sister Damian and Gary a letter requesting that they give us 10 days notice if they set up a meeting with us due to our having a post office box. We went into the meeting with Geoffrey Casher, Esq. He asked Gary if he could see our file. Gary said Geoff would have to ask Sister. When Sister came in and saw we had a lawyer, she did a double take. She said maybe she should get her attorney but then just decided to tape the conversation. At the meeting was Bill and Pat Woodruff, Geoffrey Casher, Esq. and from CYS - Sister Damian, Gary Clinger and Eva Brown. I tried to give Bill's medical records to Sister and Sister said that they were just looking at Cori, "It's just Cori in the fishbowl." She didn't want the medical records. She said she'd just let the doctors figure that out. Damian said that "only a week in the hospital on a high calorie diet will determine anything."She went on at great length over who called in the report and that she couldn't tell us who it was. She gave us the name of Scott Fries in Harrisburg (Director of Childline, I think) but cautioned us that he would call her and check with her if we asked him for the name of who called in. She said she would tell him not to give out the name if she thought the person who called us in was in danger from us. She said that Doctor Rigas was a person of deep convictions and would have called the Childline if she had major concerns. Sister said they couldn't say who called in but she could say who didn't. Sister said their CYS office definitely didn't call it in. Sister stated again that she was annoyed at all the mandated reporters that never called about Cori's small size when Cori was younger. I asked if that didn't work in our favor since Cori had always been healthy. Sister said no. I asked if Sister had given the copies of the papers that I had given her to the people/mandated reporters that had concerns, like Sister said she would at the meeting on February 2nd. She said that the County Commissions also had the papers and she assumed that those people with concerns had gotten copies from them. Sister said according to law she had to investigate all over again once there was a new hotline report. She said that she had even called someone to check and they told her to investigate all over again. She told us the possible outcomes of the case: founded, unfounded and indicated. Sister said not to be surprised or worry if the determination was made of indicated because it would just be because we had a future doctor's appointment at Geisinger. Sister said that they would want to wait because Doctor Andruscavage wanted to run some more tests. I corrected this statement. I said that the doctor did not want to run more tests, she simply wanted to make sure that Cori was growing as she had been. Geoffrey asked to see our file at the end of the meeting. He wrote down what papers were in it. Sister said she excluded my stack of papers and the confidential names. I remembered afterwards that she must have also excluded those notes that Gary took on November 13th and a photocopy of a letter that I gave him that same day. (It was a letter that I had just received at the post office that day from Bill's mom that stated how much the great-grandparents enjoyed seeing Cori over Halloween because Cori reminded them so much of Bill's mom [their daughter] "but with better eating habits.") Geoffrey determined that CYS had never written to us before taking the children. He also asked to see a plan that she is supposed to have on file but Sister didn't know where it was. She asked the secretary but they couldn't find it. She said it was probably filed somewhere around the office by the last Director (Fran Kuhn) or maybe it was at the County Commissioner's Office or the Courthouse. She had just started the job last February. She thanked the attorney for bringing it up because she would probably need it for the upcoming audit.
Friday, February 23, 1996 - Gary resigned with a "medical leave of absence."
March 11, 1996 - A letter was sent by Damian that stated that our case was unfounded and the records would be expunged.
[These notes were compiled from my diary before the children were taken then I added to it as things were going on.]
On March 13, 1997 Depositions were taken under oath. Damian stated, "There is no family case record per se. The case--the Woodruff family was never opened in the agency as a case." "I had no reason to believe that the Woodruffs would not be cooperative."
" And I found out [after the kids were taken]that Mr. Clinger had not taken the agency car which was part of the plan." "The agency policy is to use the agency vehicle."
"Dr. Rigas found that Cameron Woodruff had a heart murmur." [ This is the only reason that has ever been given why Cameron was taken.]
When asked, ""you didn't know that he [Gary] was going to walk over to the Family Center to serve it [the Court Order signed by Damian]?" Damian replied "I had absolutely no idea whatsoever!"
[When talking about attending the meeting with the Commissioners]"Mr. Clinger was actually requested to attend because of completing that procedure and he requested that I --and I would have attended without a request -- but even though the commissioners requested, he specifically requested that I attend."
Gary Clinger stated, "She [Dr. Rigas] at this time [right before the kids were taken], really isn't worried about Cameron."
Our lawyer asked, "How did it come to be your understanding, that [taking the children] was what needed to be done?" Gary answered, "It's when Director Sister Damian had a custody order and said that this would be the appropriate time to take the children and find out exactl[y what is the problem..."
"... all the talking was done by Sister Damian Fleischman." [Gary stated when talking about the meeting with the Commissioners.]
Our lawyer asked, "... was there any efforts made to send a letter to the Woodruffs indicating that the agency felt there was an urgent need for them to follow up on the medical situation?" Gary answered, "I do not remember that particular situation. I do remember Mrs. Woodruff calling me and wanting information why we did take the children."
"So I had no contact with the family until approximately the day that I did take custody of the children, as the director told me to do." [Gary talking about the time between setting up the doctor's appointment and taking the kids.]
"This was, to my knowledge, was never assigned to be a case."
Things of note: the regulations say that CYS is required to use the office car and they are never supposed to use a police vehicle. The law says that the Director cannot be deputized to sign Court Orders. CYS must prove to a Judge why the children should be taken. The regulations say that ever effort should be made to keep the family intact.
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